| Essence Of Hinduism |
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HINDU ETHICS |
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| Purity implies both
purity of body and purity of mind, both ceremonial purity and moral purity. The former is
preliminary to the latter. All the purificatory baths and ceremonies and all the elaborate
rules regarding food and drink prescribed in our scriptures are meant to suggest purity of
mind and spirit. The discipline of a religious Hindu begins with these elementary
regulations. Our food and drink, which sustain the physical basis of the soul, are not such unimportant things as some people imagine. It cannot be a matter of in difference from a spiritual point of view whether a man is a vegetarian or a meat-eater, whether he drinks water or wine. But, as we have already said, the purity of body, which is the result of proper food and drink, and of habits of cleanliness is only preliminary to purity of mind. According to Hinduism cleanliness is not exactly next to godliness, it is, a part of godliness. When the two are made independent, they sustain great loss. There fore purity should comprise both external purity and internal purity. It should comprise cleanliness, straight forward- ness, frankness, innocence and absence of all sinful thoughts. The cultivation of purity thus naturally leads to the second cardinal virtue, namely, self-control. |
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| About Hindu Ethics |
